Need a ride home after too much drinking? Call a taxi.

New Year’s Eve and drinking and driving go together in ways they shouldn’t, and a supposed offer from AAA won’t allow inebriated motorists a free ride home.

The supposed offer was posted and reposted in recent days on Facebook. It was billed as “Tipsy Tow,” advertising a number motorists could call for a free ride home from 6 p.m. on New Year’s Eve through 6 a.m. on New Year’s Day. The free taxi service was supposedly offered by AAA and offered a 1-800 number that connected callers with AAA’s national headquarters.

Trouble is, while AAA is offering the service in some parts of the country, AAA Carolinas isn’t participating. Tom Crosby, a spokesman for AAA Carolinas, said the service – intended to keep drunk drivers off the road – was tried in North Carolina and South Carolina a few years ago.

“It was abused,” Crosby said. “People were using it to go from party to party. We don’t do it now.”

Crosby said the service hasn’t been offered in the Carolinas in at least two years. A spokeswoman for AAA’s national headquarters confirmed that while the service is offered elsewhere, drunken party-goers in North Carolina and South Carolina should call a taxi if they want a ride home. AAA won’t be providing free rides.

Meanwhile, area law enforcement officers advised drivers the price of a taxi ride is dirt cheap compared to the cost of a DWI conviction. Officers were expected to be out in force on New Year’s Eve and early New Year’s Day.

“Yeah, we have extra troopers on patrol,” said 1st Sgt. Tim Crumpler of the N.C. Highway Patrol.

He said the number is typically upped on any holiday, and New Year’s Eve is one that’s most readily associated with drinking and driving. Crumpler said he hoped that because New Year’s Eve fell on a Monday this year, the number of intoxicated partiers climbing behind the wheel might be down in comparison to when the holiday falls on a weekend.

Chris Verdeck, an assistant chief with the Burlington Police Deapartment, said he knew of no plans to increase DWI patrols on New Year’s Eve, but said plenty of officers will be looking for inebriated motorists. He said with the holiday falling on a weeknight, it would probably compare with a weekend as to the number of drunken motorists on the road.

“We haven’t had any problems to speak of,” Verdeck said of an uptick in motorists driving on New Year’s Eve when they have no business behind the wheel.